No matter how curious & adventurous we'll are, we still appreciate & will seek for tidbits of knowledge about the new environments & circumstances we could possible find ourselves.
That was the position I found myself in when I got posted to kwara state for my service year. I was a little disappointed because I'd already anticipated another place & was not really impressed by Ilorin the last time I was there, & for someone who intends to travel far & wide, kwara state seems to close. I'm writing this piece because of the dearth of information about kwara state from previous corpers compared to most of the other states where articles about the experiences of corpers abound. I'll implore you to upload your experiences also,it's the least you can do for others. Lives depend on it,just because I can adapt to any environment or situation does not mean others can,remember those that died in camp in the 2016 batch B set. May their souls rest in peace.
Now to the real story, forgive me if I digress now & then, I just wish to be detailed as possible. I stand to be corrected where I'm mistaken, derailers remember it's my experience not your's!.

JOURNEY TO YIKPATA

The journey from Abeokuta to Ilorin takes about 5-6 hours depending on the speed of the driver & hold-ups along the route especially around ogbomosho. I went a day before the camp officially opened & despite getting to asero motor park at around 6am I met the bus already half filled, people no dey dull o!, by around 7.30 we were already on the way,with a fellow corper who was posted to Niger! I Wondered when he would reach his destination after alighting at Ilorin.
Before I knew it ,we've entered & passed Ibadan,thanks to our dare devil driver, we stopped at ilora for refreshments & some abokis took that opportunity to delay us by ordering more food as if it was their last supper. Shio!.
After a few complaints,we continued our journey & got to Ilorin around 12,I salute those that travel that oyo-ogbomosho road at night, very nasty road with a multitude of trailers,over speed at your own risk, I can't count the number of times tankers & trailers strayed unto our own lane while avoiding pot holes, imaging being unable to brake at that particular moment?! ,Na to just say your last prayer. Tie ti run niyen.
Alighting at sawmill garage in Ilorin, I took a cab of 60naira OUTSIDE the park to maraba park,bought some few things I needed, wasn't extorted because I dressed like a normal street guy,no flashy outfit & carried only a single school bag, if the traders get an hint that you're an otondo,you will surely pay ridiculous price. At the park,just tell them you're going to nysc camp in yikpata, they would direct you to the bus/car ,cost 800 if you go early, after camp has already opened or you came at around 10pm upwards & you don't want to sleep in Ilorin, expect the fare to be as high as 1500 per person,they will surely carry you to the camp even if na midnight you go reach yikpata.
Endeavour to sit at the front because it's 4 at the back,2 in front. Na so I enter yikpata car o,expecting a journey between 20-30mins, we just dey go ni! ,You will have asked the driver ,"Have we not gotten close to the camp ni", almost 20 times & he would still shake his head. I can't begin to recount how the passengers slept & woke& slept again, if you're lucky you might enter the car with a Yoruba or Hausa ,if not when all of them including the driver start discussing in nupe or tapa, just chill & pray ehn! U will reach your destination.
The roads are not that good or totally bad,at least they are better than those leading to sango ota & other nearby places. After like an hour we left civilization behind,come & see isolated villages, some places like Moro,tsaragi ,share are a little developed, I saw first bank along that line sha, not to mention the number of camels & donkeys I saw enroute. E surprise me no be small.
In kwara state,after Ilorin,going from one LGA to another is like travelling to another state because they flung far & wide, its always measured in hour's so prepare yourself.
We got to the entrance of the nysc camp at yikpata after about 3hrs with all that speed!,pray you don't enter a slow car during your time. Did you know that I only saw 3 vehicles on that route. You will also get used to it.
At the entrance to the camp we saw a Pepsi headed sign board(the white one was done before we left camp) saying something about a leadership....... Youth camp?! & I was like,are you sure this is the nysc camp,it was only when we got inside that dry looking forest that we saw NYSC camp buildings & other corpers that were waiting for registration. I was so glad to be done with sitting down all day,my bombom don dey pain me sef. I joined the other otondos while the officials arranged temporary accommodation for us since we we're a day early, Kudos to the officials in charge, they handled this efficiently,More grease to your elbow. Unlike other states camps where you would have been delayed for hours or probably sleep under the trees before they attend to you. Be assured you will get a place to sleep whenever you enter yikpata, doesn't now mean you should purposely enter at 3 in the morning o. When we had all settled down,some slept while others went to eat at mammy market. Man must eat better food before registration palaver tomorrow.

But before sleeping that night we've been informed that registration would start very early as 7:30am in the morning, naso everyone carry bucket in search of water, there was a river at the back of the camp but once you visit it,as una dey waka come back na with soldiers as escorts,you don win express pass to your house niyen,next batch things.

I noticed people queuing in one place,joined them only to see one of them working all these manual pump boreholes,the ones you see on Tv with the locals pulling it upandan. Na so we enter one chance that night o,first the queue long like that you will see at NNPC petrol station,I was on that line from 10- midnight!, secondly everyone was seriously tired & the pump was old ,so you'll have to pump the handle like 40times before a drop comes out! .

I just quietly stayed beside my bucket meditating about how ego be for my turn,started conserving my strength, to talk sef na wahala. Na so we see one particular guy o,I wonder what he did or ate at home, he just dey rev this pump like say na nothing, with one hand?! Jesu! That's was how we started hailing this bros o not knowing that soldiers were in the enclosure behind us,they warned us twice to stop shouting because it late already,around 11, trust Naija pickins na, dem no hear. Next thing we heard was ,"If you people continue disturbing us I will send you back to your hostels,Mr man!, will you stop that thing,I am talking & you're pumping?!",

Na so everywhere quiet like graveyard, after warning us again, the soldier went back without giving permission to restart pumping & the guy there had already froze, see trouble,we were back to square one, because once you don't stop pumping, the water continues flowing, but once you pause peren! Just pray for the strength of Samson, even the guy pumping like a terminator machine, after he helped like 15times baba don ja! I wonder if na trams dey work or is it natural muscles?! Anyway am sure he would have grown confam six packs& huge arms muscle that night. No be small thing at all.

As for the girls,they had to gang up because no guy would help as they were all conserving their strength for their own turn & no lone girl could operate it,would just be pulling upandan till eternity, nothing go comot,it turned into what a man can do,4girls can do better. Tiredness nobe better thing.

Finally, it reached my turn around midnight, Hmmmm,What 4 girls were pushing up & down at the same time & water sef no gree comot, Took a deep breathe & quickly took over from the previous dude & started pumping o but brother,the spirit was really willing but the body don give up tay tay. The pump just dey piss ni inside my very small bucket o,eno gree rush & I could physically feel my arms shutting down,thanks to my would be roommate Yusuf, he was the one that came to my rescue & pumped it full. That was how I finally got through &went back to the hostel with bashorun, he was laughing, I didn't blame him, I was smiling when he related his experience with that borehole in the afternoon, thought I had stronger muscles & bones, didn't know it was Hercules that commissioned the damned thing!.
Some people didn't leave that place till morning o & nobody would have dared steal that precious water, they would have seen Mohammed Ali incarnates in that camp.

It was an experience to remember. Whr are you posted to,? Mine is Ilorin west

Didn't totally leave yikpata environment, Edu LGA

Am in Stream2
Would like to meet y'all tho

Kindly DM me

REGISTRATION PALAVER

I didn't sleep up to 2hrs before we heard that some girls had packed their loads & formed a queue at the camp entrance around 3.30-4 am o, kilode?! ,una all be practicing eze nwannyis ni?!. Na so guys also follow, who wan carry last, had I known the aftermath, would have continued my sleep till like 8am. That was how we foolish otondos packed our loads & queued outside in the blasted cold under the moonlight. Funny enough, no official was in sight,na we Nigerians dey do ourselves aswear!. We queued outside till like 7:45 when policemen came to scatter the queue, said we should move further back behind the barriers before the camp entrance,that was how first became last & vice versa o,I really pitied those who had queued up at the front since ,na so life be sha. We still stayed for an hour at our new position before the camp officials gave an introductory speech & started checking us in batch by batch(14 in a batch) ,if you want to be in the same room with ur friend, just group yourselves in 14s & watch how they are selected so you can make amendments, it's the late comers that end up in the large halls with no demarcations & privacy,market square aye!. I passed through inspection without any problem, shay I wan carry rifle inside one small school bag ni?, & collected my job list at that point,Basho wasn't so lucky, he was already at the next phase when he saw my job list,had to go back for his own & had the honour of serving the first punishment on the camp,my guy frog jump before dem give am.
For those of you bringing heavy bags,you might be asked to carry dem & double up by soldiers. Me just pretend to dey adjust my bag strap till I reach the other side,I kannot comman die. I never chop Sir.

The job list states the steps you have to go through for your registration, lose any NYSC form at your own risk. After inspection, we were given meal tickets(na ur confirm ID card for the meantime, better to loose your money than that or else amadioha will smile at you),then taken in 14s to our various cubicles in the hostels which were not that bad although all sockets had been removed, dem want us to patronize mammy phone charging agents bah, hmmmm!. Without pausing a bit,we were shunted out for the next step,verification of callup letter's, aboki i take God beg you,carry all your originals & photocopies, queue again?!, nawa o but it sha was split & organised with a man o war monitoring, only it was slowwwww! I finally got to the checking point, gave them my callup letter, slip& school certificate. Next was the ICT biometric capturing, another queue again?!, na here the gbege start,people started jumping queues,na so dem dabaru everything, chisos! I can't come & be saying what I experienced that day but one thing I would tell you ehn,if you see that the right thing you're doing is the wrong choice at that moment abeg no hesitate ,If everybody behaved maturely & followed the queue dutifully we would be through within no time,but it's then that you would see Some werey guys alawing 15girls in their front, na we wey queue come be mumu abi, So I repeat,don't dull yourself, bulldoze or yikpata yourself to the front also,ko ni da fun iyalaya due process! Na who born monkey?!. It was only after soldiers & other officials intervened that there was any semblance of control,even then some sons & daughters of guns still dey do fayawo. Nigeria will never be corrupt free,forget am,especially if you don't fight for your right. I finally got to the front some hours later, did the biometric & collected a printout stating my state code number& assigned platoon, I hardly glanced at it because I wasn't thinking straight again with all the running upandan & it almost put me & basho in trouble. At the file opening section, the official asked for my number, I con dey look like boli,the man collected my printout, read out a number &gave me my file, thank God for eidetic memories, we for enter soup later, I foolishly submitted that printout without still fully reading & comprehending it,is it my fault that I was thinking of the way I was going to swallow food at mammy after registration?!. It was while filling the bank Acc form that we saw state code on it!, state code bawo?! After a lot of peeping & asking around, we inputted the 4 numbers we remembered, hoping it wasn't the wrong one or else allowee go get accident before e reach us.

Thinking we were done,we moved on to the last phase of the registration to collect Our kits only to be asked for our number again by the tailors that dodged our steps,me & basho con dey look ourselves say which kind number again?! They told us we wouldn't be able to collect our kits without it & asked us to go back to the file opening section & have our number written on the job lists, *sighs* wahala wa o. We circumspectly went back & stylishly explained ourselves, trust me, you don't want to annoy this officials during registration unless you like drinking hot pepper soup with straws. The man looked at us,collected our job lists & asked us for the same number we went back to ask him for,it then dawned on us that he won't bother checking any files for us, so we just gave him that particular 4 numbers we remembered, thank God we checked it later at our various platoons & it was correct. Remember that magic number like your DoB.

After this,we trudged like two pregnant goats to our various platoon points to collect our kits,oh Lawd of Mercy?! warriz all diz?! ,flowing agbadas called khaki uniforms,did I hear you say we filled out specifications online? Story for the gods. The round necks were........hmmmm! ,
No be recession cause this, am sure!

I didn't bother carrying anything to the hostel,just gave it all to the tailors straight, beat down the exorbitant price, exchanged my boots & tennis whites because it would be difficult later & highlighted it to the hostel at to 4! since morning. No luck my people,I hardly put some snacks inside my stomach before I heard pa! pa! pa! papapa! pa! pa! pa! pa! pa! pa! pa!, "Move to the parade ground!" soldiers just appear dey blow whistles left right & center,banging doors & walls, Shuo! See rushing, everybody scattered in their white apparel,it looked like evil spirits in uniforms chasing ghosts in white white. You either run or do frog jump if you accosted. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into while on the move with one unlaced shoe. We were grouped in platoons on the field of tough bristles & confirm dust,got a running nose that didn't expire through that 3 weeks,a fulani cow would have despaired on seeing that field. That was how we started pray shunning & standa eaziiiing till 6 o, we were only 10 platoons but hunger don wack me so tay I saw an extra platoon of Angel Jesse & his white apparelled soldiers matching with us. It wasn't funny at all. After we were dismissed, I went to collapse on my bed & later went to mammy with basho to chop better food,to hell with rice & indomie," iya calabar abeg control garri & ogbono soup come here, 300 per plate?!, Lawd!!", But man must chop o. We cleared those plates faster than bullions van escorts clear the highway.

Please always endeavor to eat something before attempting any nysc activities to avoid collapsing or hunger caused sickness. Don't say I never warned you. I don't even know how I slept off that night& am normally a very late sleeper, not this time. But did we really enjoy our sleep?

Bestie0309:
It was an experience to remember. Whr are you posted to,? Mine is Ilorin west

You'd enjoy Mr Olaitan (LGI) very well. He's a nice man

Yipkata tins.... Nice write up dude... I can relate...

Imagine sleeping & dreaming of trumpets accompanied with loud voices, what came to your mind? ,the 2nd coming of the lord?, for us otondos, it wasn't angels we saw when we discovered that we weren't really dreaming. Soldiers don enter hostel.
GBA! GBA!! GBA!!! ,MOVE TO THE PARADE GROUND YOU BAGGAS!. That's how we entered a daily routine of interrupted sleep & early morning rush to the parade ground. As for bathing forget,na afternoon o,even night sef,unless you are one of those that prefer to wake up around midnight to bathe in that blasted cold!.
During the first week before I adapted, I was walking around almost half mad cos of lack of sleep. Don't judge some people if you notice errant behavior on their part,brain fit don touch!.
I can't begin to mention the wait in the cold on the parade ground,omo! ,even with your complete khaki complimented with gloves,we still dey shake like zombies. The soldiers with their personalities, some funny, some workaholics & others just mischievous. If you meet STONE K,guy is legendary second only to our funny RSM with that his short stick,I received its blessing once sha,thank God for afro.
Did I mention the lectures, the long epistles mostly taken while on your feet! ,especially SAED or saheed as we call it,it was a bedlam of activities with 80% of the corpers absent both in mind,body & spirit. I don't blame them,how many people are interested in shoe making, beads making ,IT concepts that you hardly know the relevance & the promoters Won't say much to avoid losing interested participants etc.
The last day especially was emotional& tiresome with the confusing & time consuming protocol's. Boya na by force to submit beds,we dey carry am go our PPA ni?! , mtchewww! . As for the sharing of posting letters,see people crying cos they've been posted to places like baruten,patigi etc. As if it would kill them if they spent 2 months in a rural setting. I rep Bacita for edu LGA! (Dont think you'll find me if thats your intention. Spirit no dey fear teargas). Got peace of mind,serene environs,water & light available no stressing at all. While most of those in Ilorin were still lookin for PPA & accommodation, I was done with clearance &thinking about how to furnish my room. Not beefing anybody, Making it is not mainly by location, Your attitudes determine a lot also.
Summary of all these is that you can only enjoy yikpata camp& kwara unless you are flexible & adaptable, if not,jejeli siddon for your house. Nysc no be by force. Make friends & relate, it's only once in a lifetime and make sure u ENJOY. Have a great year

If you have any questions about the camp, state it below,I'll respond as soon as possible. Thanks.

Stream 2. kwara.

liveyourlife007:
Stream 2. kwara.

any whatsapp group for stream 2 kwara

Team kwara! Love ur writes up, Any whatsapp group stream 2 peeps

Call me on 09056064845 for speedy redeployment to any state of your choice.

This is for the prospective corp members headed for yikpata camp, stay away from any insurance savings scheme from any bank especially first bank Ilorin. They are scammers. Talking from personal experience, once your cash is in,just forget about it.
https://www.nairaland.com/2877380/first-bank-nigeria-insurance-scam

Ku be losun, Good evening my people fah. I just decided to give a summary of my service year jae,since most folks just come ,hit and run without giving the future corpers any hints on what is awaiting them in their respective states. Too bad,lets change that. Enjoy as you read on.

Few hours to POP & I'm like, You're feeling so relaxed and enjoying a quiet peace filled evening. But my brain starts showing me screenshots of my experience in Kwara & i nod in affirmative & say "I can't wait to get out of here, back to the little civilization that's out there and out of the over simplistic rural life that exists in most parts of Kwara.
Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed part of my stay here but the other part was not funny guys! Let me state things out for you. First, if you get posted to ilorin, i mean the real town not ilorin east or other outskirts, Weh don ! Unless you have your accommodation and transportation taken care of already, your allowee won't last you 2weeks,Ndo. Apart from that, if you're the jaiye type, Ilorin is da blast, you have access to all the amenities and structures you can get in a standard city, ATMs, cinemas, shopping malls and am sure you'll love the taiwo-post office- challenge axis. But like i said, you have to be in town, yes, middle of town,not

Corper- "Yeahhhh have been posted to Ilorin!"

Friend- where in ilorin?!

Corper- eiyenkorin,ilorin east, etc

Me- Shakes head. You nono anything yet.

ILORIN is good but can be expensive & employers don't give a Bleep.

Now for my folks who get posted to the rural areas like Edu, Patigi, Kiama, Moro e.tc. (I won't mention baruten because that one get hin own pedestal, border corpers, lol.)
Tighten your mind well well, If you're like me, a typical Nigerian who can survive anywhere, under any circumstances and still enjoy it, it's not easy to be born a Nigerian o, It's a goddamn privilege. No fear, some of these villages aren't as rural as they sound, the best have good roads,2 or more standard schools,water,cheap food, Confam regular electricity and network. What else do you want. The only thing lacking in most cases is the social life except you really want to turn indigenous, then their nightly nupe weddings and events are there for you , transportation to town can be quite rough and expensive, just to get to ilorin na max 1k.

Like i said, everywhere you're going is in miles and hours. But here are the perks, the educated people in those parts especially the ones heading schools are most of the times narrow minded and some times worse than their uneducated fellows, doesn't mean some of them aren't open minded and genuinely interested and honest to you. But I'll still cast my lot's with the natives most of the time. So be prepared for intrigues and schemes if your not lucky. You'll learn a lot.

Now that's for the best villages, for those who think them village witches follow dem go nysc, participated in camp with them and influenced their posting to the more remote regions, tohhhhh! ,Eku! Welcome, don't despair sha, even though the schools might look like what you saw in your grandfather's grade 2 textbooks and the students come barefoot to school with dirty or no uniform, stare and smile at you while you're teaching because they Don't understand a word of English (this is quite rampant, up to Ss3 in some cases),no good roads, for network, you might have to start behaving like a satellite dish...... searching........... searching..... phone would be like ....ogbeni better manage this edge...i kant kill myself looking for truant 3G o..... etc

Take a deep breath, Be calm,in those places,You would be given the best accommodation they can afford,Food won't be a problem,you might be fed throughout your service year,water would be fetched for you,in fact you will be treated like royalty and afforded the most respect. You go enjoy, no stress.

So that's how it is, Expensive town and its accessibilities where nobody dey see you or rural village ,rampant illiteracy and Jagaban status. It's up to you. But wherever you end up in,always try to do something that will uplift those you live among,open their eyes to the outside world, what endless possibilities could be theirs if they could just value education, try not to leave them the same way you met them.

Only the STRONG in mind and attitude can serve in Kwara, if you're the weak, undisciplined, unserious or soft boy or girl always looking for soft places & circumstances, Just go home or repost immediately or else prepare for the worst 1 year of your life Walahi!,I don't recommend Kwara for just anybody. Man's not hot but Kwara is gonna make you volcanic.
Wish you the best and hope you're made by the experiences you gathered. Toh, Eku beh losun, Kewan na, ije boh. Goodnight.

Signing out Tomorrow by 12am GMT 2016 Batch BS1. Adios.



cc:Seun,Lalasticlala ,mynd44,Ogbeche77

Bros bros Bros: D Yikpata Fraternity. I remembered my days their with Nostalgia. 2010 Things. I lukewarm attitude for it cos not fully interested in the Yeye service , sorry to say, partly because I was too old to enrol in my Third decade. My Mates has done same 4/5/6/7 years earlier. So I decided to hook up wt clinic and wait for nature to run its course. But I must confess I enjoy life post yikpata and afforded me to meet various naija of different background and diversity of thinking.

Yikpata Yikpata... 2014/2015 set. Omoh that camp na another jungle on it's own... It had no fence or barricades, we slept (both male and female) at the main hall for days without bunks, we bathed outside and shortput was a norm. Though I enjoyed it because I did my saeed at the stream,abi na river; no time for any boring lectures.



I was later posted to Kaiama (another 5hours journey from illorin), That one na another gist on another day.

Cybertext:
Yikpata Yikpata... 2014/2015 set. Omoh that camp na another jungle on it's own... It had no fence or barricades, we slept (both male and female) at the main hall for days without bunks, we bathed outside and shortput was a norm. Though I enjoyed it because I did my saeed at the stream,abi na river; no time for any boring lectures.



I was later posted to Kaiama (another 5hours journey from illorin), That one na another gist on another day.

Doubt if it has changed much. Them prefer to swallow development money. Still no real fence.. toilets dey but boys.lol.

SAED na mostly waste of time. Kaiama? Them threaten us with all those places Ehn,see people dey cry after collecting letter. But despite all sha,especially my village people wey carry jet come..I really enjoyed Kwara,waka Ilorin wella. Really Broadened my horizons. Anybody from south E,S&W go appreciate what they have back at home. Naija has a long way to go.

I'm crying already. See me see kwara ok

Gracito:
I'm crying already. See me see kwara ok

Hahaha,It all depends on your mindset. I already zeroed my mind say anything.. we die hia. Me & my guys were unlikely candidates also. Kwara brings out the best&worst in you..Teaches you balance..You'll enjoy it only if you're open-minded sha. And don't forget to ball every weekend in Ilorin if you can afford it. It only happens once.

SKhanmi:


Hahaha,It all depends on your mindset. I already zeroed my mind say anything.. we die hia. Me & my guys were unlikely candidates also. Kwara brings out the best&worst in you..Teaches you balance..You'll enjoy it only if you're open-minded sha. And don't forget to ball every weekend in Ilorin if you can afford it. It only happens once.

Its well. Thank you

SKhanmi:


Doubt if it has changed much. Them prefer to swallow development money. Still no real fence.. toilets dey but boys.lol.

SAED na mostly waste of time. Kaiama? Them threaten us with all those places Ehn,see people dey cry after collecting letter. But despite all sha,especially my village people wey carry jet come..I really enjoyed Kwara,waka Ilorin wella. Really Broadened my horizons. Anybody from south E,S&W go appreciate what they have back at home. Naija has a long way to go.

Lol...Yikpata camp should be a location for the next Gulder Ultimate Search.

The day we were given the PPA letter, girls were wailing from the camp to our destination (it was a 9hours journey from Yikpata to Kaiama).
What LGA did you serve if I may ask??

Kaiama story was a mix feeling, the community had no light for years and funny enough it's a 45mins drive to kanji dam.

Cybertext:



Lol...Yikpata camp should be a location for the next Gulder Ultimate Search.

The day we were given the PPA letter, girls were wailing from the camp to our destination (it was a 9hours journey from Yikpata to Kaiama).
What LGA did you serve if I may ask??

Kaiama story was a mix feeling, the community had no light for years and funny enough it's a 45mins drive to kanji dam.

No mind those wailers. Most of them counted themselves lucky in the end. I served in Edu LGA